What’s Going On Here: No Going Back

One detail you may have missed in the Louisiana Racing Commission backing plans that essentially would have allowed clenbuterol abuse and relaxed standards on some powerful corticosteroids? Horsemen helped lead the charge against these changes.

Horsemen were among the first to let BloodHorse know that these detrimental changes to integrity and equine safety were to be rolled out June 8 in Louisiana. Conditioners such as classic winner Keith Desormeaux didn’t take long to see the many potential problems.

“My first reaction is embarrassment because Louisiana is my home; Louisiana always will be my home,” Desormeaux said. “It’s just part of who I am, and I would like to see more progressive thinking out of there.”

After several days of pushback, the message would be heard and the Louisiana regulator rescinded its proposed changes.

Under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, which oversees the vast majority of United States racing jurisdictions, banned substances now carry significant penalties and controlled medication rules aim to ensure safety and integrity. Louisiana is one of the few states currently not under the HISA umbrella. Its initial plan to allow more drug use in racing threw the sport back to the not-so-distant past when each state crafted its own anti-doping and medication rules.

This Louisiana effort provided a reminder that for all of the constitutional arguments thrown out by HISA opponents—perhaps some by true believers—many on that side are motivated to take HISA down in order to bring back a system that allows more drugs. 

But Louisiana soon found out that things have changed. Horsemen were among the first to let Louisiana know that they had no desire to go backward. 

“These rules are going against all of what the industry has moved toward and tried to put forth—a more positive direction in racing,” said trainer Cherie DeVaux.

Those residing in the “more drugs” camp might be smart enough to not voice that motivation out loud, but once a new commission in Louisiana provided an opportunity, they were quick to act. That’s why it’s so significant that horsemen led some of the opposition. 

Granted, those horsemen had a variety of reasons for their opposition, but on some level there was a desire not to go backward. On some level there is greater understanding of the benefits of consistent rules, regulations, and penalties, as well as the need for every emphasis on equine safety and integrity.

Major industry organizations would join the call to not go backward. These included Breeders’ Cup, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, and track owner Churchill Downs Inc., which owns Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots and that track’s important Kentucky Derby (G1) and Kentucky Oaks (G1) preps. 

“As an unequivocal supporter of uniform rules and regulations across the nation, Breeders’ Cup is confounded by the misguided decision of the Louisiana Racing Commission, which inexplicably takes the safety and integrity of racing in Louisiana in completely the wrong direction,” said Claire Crosby, vice president of communications for Breeders’ Cup. 

The NTRA made it clear that as the public expects the highest emphasis be placed on equine safety, medication reforms cannot be rolled back. 

“Research reinforces that this increased emphasis on safety and integrity is exactly what both core and casual racing fans expect of us. Make no mistake, we are seeing positive results,” wrote NTRA president and CEO Tom Rooney in a BloodHorse column. “A 34% decline in racing fatalities since 2009, as measured by The Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database, is not a statistical anomaly.”

This reaction, particularly by horsemen participants, could point to a clean sport culture gaining the upper hand in U.S. racing. Remember the years when horsemen felt some pressure to use medications, or worse, to compete with the next trainer? This reaction to the Louisiana proposal suggests, on some level, that clean trainers want the drug trainers to adjust to the new reality or get out of the sport.

TrueSport, an outreach and educational component of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, describes the importance of a change in culture toward a clean sport in this way: “At the end of the day, athletes deserve to believe that they are competing in a clean sport.”

This is the What’s Going On Here column from the July issue of BloodHorse magazine.